In our current economic situation, are you finding repeat business or intermittent sales?

This may sound crazy, but the difference may be found in your sock drawer.  I’ll explain in a minute.  First, I want to point you to a story about a Chicago cupcake boutique.  Molly’s Cupcakes, located in Lincoln Park, serves gourmet cupcakes to their patrons. During a recession, one would expect sales to suffer. When several competitors pop up during a recession, one might expect the worst.  This story from Medill Reports shows otherwise:

“Everytime a new cupcake place has opened, our sales have gone up,” said John Nicolaides, who owns Molly’s Cupcakes with his brother. “I’ve noticed it because four have opened since we opened and it’s always been positive for us. In some regard, I want another one to open so we can have more sales.”

This seems so odd in our zero-sum mindset.

More Competition + Poor Economy = Fewer Sales (right?)

Wrong.

How does this work?  When you open your dresser, which pair of socks is the easiest to grab?

The top pair.

The pairs of socks below are harder to get to, and therefore get used less. The socks underneath can complain about their lot in life, but this is just how it is.

So, if your business isn’t the “top sock,” what can you do?  You do have a few choices.

1. Be a different kind of sock.
   In a drawer of white tube socks, dress socks get their own space.
   Socks like LittleMissmatched may get a drawer of their own.
2. Become the top sock.
   This is probably harder to do than being different.
   Remember the Microsoft Zune?
3. Don’t be a sock at all.
   Redefine yourself completely.
   Maybe instead of competing with Molly’s Cupcakes, you can create a line of ingredients and tools for parents to bake gourmet cupcakes with their kids. You start selling memories of quality time instead of just a dessert.

So, if you’re wondering if you can fight off the competition during the recession… SOCK IT TO ‘EM!! (sorry, I couldn’t resist)